join forest allies

A Unique Collaboration to
Preserve Forests and Biodiversity

JANUARY 2022
A Community of Practice

There are many global

commitments, pledges, and
coalitions out there. While these
ambitions are a great first
step, promises alone cannot
stop deforestation and forest
degradation. We must support
them with local action.
This is where Forest Allies comes in: We are committed to finding solutions
that benefit forests and the people whose livelihoods depend upon them.

Forest Allies is a community of practice focused on protecting, restoring,

and enabling responsible management of tropical forests.

Together, we build and foster partnerships to work beyond individual supply

chains and engage and support local communities in critical tropical forest
landscapes. The Forest Allies offerings are rooted in the Rainforest Alliance’s
30-plus years of experience working collaboratively to fight deforestation.
We invite your company to join our Forest Allies community of practice to
have a greater impact on forests within—and beyond—your supply chain.

Photo: Giuseppe Cipriani

Working Together to Take Action

Halting deforestation and forest

degradation and mitigating the
climate crisis require bold and
urgent action.
In fact, natural climate solutions like rebuilding tropical forest landscapes
could help us achieve up to 37 percent of the emissions reductions needed
to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees. Yet today’s sustainability toolkit lacks
a holistic and collaborative way for businesses and forest communities
to enact long-term, systemic change. By working together in unique
partnerships to protect and restore forests, we go beyond individual supply
chains for real climate, economic, and community resilience.

Effective solutions require diverse perspectives and inclusive discussions.

Through the Forest Allies community of practice, we can help your company:

1. Invest in forest conservation and restoration beyond your operations

2. Recognize Indigenous Peoples and local communities as effective
forest stewards and future business partners
3. Collaborate with a range of stakeholders to leverage the impact of your
investment

Forest Allies brings together companies, regional civil society organizations,

and forest communities to form powerful partnerships. The community of
practice convenes twice a year to exchange knowledge, best practices, and
proven solutions for shared challenges.

Unlike other initiatives, Forest Allies provides its members with a portfolio of
projects; support in supply chain accountability; and space for collaboration
with a variety of stakeholders (e.g. communities, donors, peers from other
sectors, and local civil society). Alongside the goals of our company
partners, our approach prioritizes the needs of the forest communities we
work with to offer a comprehensive forest strategy.
Photo: William Crosse
Our Methods

The Forest Allies community of

practice convenes its diverse
membership to solve the pressing
issues affecting forests today at
global, regional, and local scales.

So, what are our methods?

1. Creating Two-Way Channels for Communication
It is instrumental to our efforts that we increase the visibility of forest
communities as effective ecosystem stewards. By placing forest
communities at the heart of our approach, we seek to open channels of
communication between markets and producers.

Over the last decade, we have seen a flurry of deforestation-free supply

chain commitments and policies from companies. And while we support
continued action within supply chains, we also recognize that these
commitments have done little to address the systemic drivers of forest
degradation and deforestation or create transformative impacts for the
people living in and relying on forests. Furthermore, only 1.7 percent of
climate finance is reaching the farmers and forest communities who occupy
more than half of the world’s forests.

A different approach is necessary. By connecting our market partners

directly with forest communities, we aim to increase awareness, build
knowledge, and develop solutions together that address the root causes
of deforestation. The result will be collective action that goes much deeper
than individual efforts.

2. Implementing Integrated Community Forest Management

Forest Allies supports the Rainforest Alliance’s integrated community forest
management approach by contributing to a pool of capital in support of
community forest enterprises, and by fostering mutual respect, trust, and a
shared vision between forest communities and markets.
Our Methods

In 2021, we invested in six projects in critical landscapes supported by our

extensive local field staff. These projects directly impact a combined total
of 339,000 hectares and benefit the livelihoods of some 7,400 local people.
Our portfolio will prioritize long-term engagement for lasting transformation,
while also building upon quick and easy wins. We plan to scale our
commitments significantly over the next five years.

3. Evidence-Based Thought Leadership and Advocacy

To support our efforts across our project portfolio, we have developed a
participatory monitoring, evaluation, and learning system with support
from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). We
designed this system not only to provide reporting on outcomes within our
projects, but also as a useful tool for forest communities in planning and
decision-making. The data we gather will inform a process of continuous
improvement in our interventions and activities. It will also inform the
solutions that our community of practice seek to co-create and test.
Furthermore, the data will provide a powerful foundation for evidence-
based thought leadership and collective advocacy efforts.

2021 Project Portfolio & Activities

❶ Guatemala: Testing Productive Restoration • ❷ Colombia: Chiribiquete

National Park Buffer Zone Restoration, Guaviare • ❸ Peru: Indigenous
Economies Project • ❹ Cameroon: Non-Timber Forest Products in the Mintom
Landscape • ❺ Indonesia: Smallholder Timber Project, Java •
❻ Indonesia: An Indonesian Archipelago Approach, West Kalimantan
Photo: Sergio Izquierdo
Our 2030 Ambition and Benefits of Forest Allies membership

Forest Allies Community of

Practice 2030 Ambition
Through the Forest Allies model, we plan to contribute significant,
measurable impacts towards forest and climate solutions, as a result of the
investments made by our community of practice members.

We will translate major global commitments into real-life outcomes for

people and nature at multiple scales.

Short-term five-year targets:

• US $15 million co-funding at least US $60 million
• Five million hectares of managed, restored, and protected forests
• Three million tons of carbon emissions reduced
• 15,000 livelihoods supported

Benefits of Forest Allies

membership
In summary, the benefits of Forest Allies membership include:
• Scaled impact through our alliance, enabling your investment to go
further
• Stronger business resilience against climate risks through investment in
critical forest landscapes
• Improved brand equity through value-based leadership and
storytelling
• Access to powerful, data-driven claims
• Space to create and pilot innovations for future opportunities in growth
and profitability
Photo: One Tree Planted
PROJECT CASE STUDY: PRODUCTIVE RESTORATION IN GUATEMALA

Maya Biosphere
Reserve

Our work in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve is an inspiring example

of community forestry in action. As the largest protected area in Central
America, it is also a critical carbon sink.

For more than twenty years, nine community concessions (so called
because the Guatemalan government “conceded” the right to use the forest
sustainably) have maintained a near-zero deforestation rate—that’s twelve
times less than adjacent areas of the reserve—while creating regenerative,
local economies.

These communities are responsible for a net forest gain equaling 695
American football fields, as well as abundant jaguar populations and
flourishing biodiversity. Meanwhile, narcotrafficking and cattle ranching
have been ravaging other areas of the reserve.

Our Forest Allies 2021 investment in this project is to support restoration of

ecological integrity and to improve human well-being in the buffer zone
surrounding the Maya Biosphere Reserve. We aimed to:

• Pilot and test a productive restoration approach.

• Improve natural processes of forest regeneration to maintain the

ecosystem of the buffer zone in the long-term.

• Define the forest management needs in the short-, medium-, and

long-term to provide local families with the resources they need, while
restoring and protecting the forest.

Forest Allies contributed by filling a critical funding gap; funding the

production of 35,000 seedlings and 100 hectares of restoration supporting
30 farmers; and was leveraged against co-funding from two local
municipalities, enabling an additional 60 hectares of restoration. In 2022 and
2023, we plan to scale up our investment and apply our learnings across the
other locations in our project portfolio.
Photo: Sergio Izquierdo
Contact Us

To turn your forest commitments

into real and meaningful action
around the globe, join Forest Allies
today.

Email:

forests@ra.org

rainforest-alliance.org